Day 5
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Sea Day 1
As per my usual routine, I got up and looked out our verandah window. This morning was nothing but open sea! I don’t know why I have no pictures.
Every morning, we would get a notification from Guest Services about our health.
We decided to eat at Lumiere’s for breakfast. I recall being very uncomfortable and anxious eating at Cabanas on our Alaskan cruise. It was, to put it bluntly, a mosh pit at breakfast. Breakfast at Lumiere’s was very relaxed. However, we didn’t eat there every morning.
After breakfast, I talked DH into a trivia game at O’Gill’s pub. The subject was TV Quotes. This was my first introduction to the entertainment crew. I have to honestly say that I was not as impressed as I have been on previous cruises. I felt like they were simply going through the motions, dialing it in and were obviously worn out. Also, nothing against them, but when reading trivia questions, sometimes they were very hard to understand clearly. You could tell that they were really tired of reading the same questions, over and over!
Anyway, our host this morning was Sam and TV quotes trivia, even though she kept calling them movie quotes, was not our thing!
After a poor showing at Trivia, DH and I met our DNeighbors at Keys for the Stem to Stern Wine Tasting event. We met the ship’s Sommelier, Matija, and he proceeded to take us through the tasting of 6 wines, 3 whites and 3 reds. I am not a wine connoisseur but I enjoy the tastings.
After the tastings, we headed up to Cabanas for lunch.
I noticed that the elevator controls had been replaced since the last time we were on the ship.
As I recall, I went to Ultimate Disney Trivia, which in my opinion was not that tough, and Hero’s Quote Trivia, which in my opinion was very hard! Needless to say, I did not win either. However, I will say that Trivia events on the ship are very popular and a couple of times were standing room only. You start dreading seeing the same teams show up.
We went back up to the room to prepare for our dinner at Palo. It was Formal night and we would be missing our dinner rotation at Rapunzel’s.
I always like to look at the Bridge Report on the TV and see where we have been.
DH and I went to the Captain’s reception in the atrium and got our free drink. We also took a couple of pictures with the backgrounds available. We made our way up to Palo at 6:00 PM. We were thrilled to see that Sasha was back as Palo Manager on the Magic. We were fortunate enough to have him as our dining room server on our 2012 cruise on the Wonder. Sasha remembered us and welcomed us warmly.
Our server at Palo was Hristo (pronounced Christo) from Croatia. Hristo was wonderful! Since we were last at Palo, they changed the way they charge you. You can dine on a pre fixe menu for $45, which includes appetizer, main and dessert. Or you can order a-la-carte like on a real menu. It’s no longer only a fixed $45 fee for dinner. We decided to go A-la-carte! Hristo also explained that you ordered from a menu for brunch. I asked if they still served the sticky buns and Hristo said they did not. Later when Sasha came by, I mentioned how much I’m going to miss not getting sticky buns at brunch, and he said he would see what he could do and talk to the chef. We’ll see!
We started off with our amuse-bouche, which was divine.
We ordered calamari and fried shrimp for the table. Since I do not care for calamari, I got the 1 piece of huge fried shrimp!
I ordered the Ossobuco, for my main course which was the best veal I have ever eaten in my life! The Sommelier selected a perfect red wine to go with it.
Of course, you cannot go to Palo and not order the Chocolate Soufflé!
When I could not possibly eat another bite, Hristo came and said he had one more thing for dessert. Nooooo!
WhewI It was just a plate wishing us a Happy Anniversary. Earlier Hristo had asked if we were celebrating anything. I mentioned that our 29th wedding anniversary was in October. Thus, he had the plate made for us! They are the best!
For the final taste of the evening, Hristo brought us a Limoncello Sorbet Mescado after dinner shot. It was so refreshing and delicious. A perfect palate cleanser.
After dinner our DNeighbors went to see Twice Charmed. I had seen the show before and decided to miss it.
I went to another Ultimate Disney Trivia game at the D-Lounge. Again, not so tough, but still didn’t win.
Graffiti Classics was doing an adult only show in Fathoms, so I talked to DNC and DH to join me. It was absolutely hilarious. I really enjoyed their show. It was also fun to run across them on the ship. The lead brought his wife and daughters with him and we saw them several times at Cabanas and the main theater.
After the show, it was time for bed. We had an early tour scheduled for the morning in Ålesund!
Goodnight Bat!
A personal note about the Navigator App. Now, I was one who loved the paper Navigators. I would save each day’s and then use them when I got home to remind me of when and what I did any particular day. Until I can start taking more detailed notes, I will miss that. However, I really liked that instead of looking ahead a day at a time, I could look ahead for the whole cruise. If there was a particular trivia session I wanted to attend, I could see the entire cruise schedule and plan accordingly. I also enjoyed being able to see the menu ahead of time. It was really nice that I could access our statement without going to Guest Services. When, I remembered, I liked to screenshot what day of the cruise we were on and read about the port we were visiting. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember every day.
Next: A pleasant surprise!
